124 SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



similarity of the snake and the eel in general form, since 

 the paired fins of the eel close to the head (see Figs. 24 

 and 25) correspond in position with the wings shown in 

 the Egyptian drawings of winged serpents. The particular 

 form of winged snake pictured on Egyptian monuments 

 (see Figs. 26, 27) appears to me to be a realisation of 

 stories and fancies based on real experience of the locust. 

 It was the terrible and destructive locust of which Hero- 

 dotus tells calling it "a winged serpent." The Egyptian 



FIG. 24. A votive 



tablet (ancient 

 Rome) showing 

 what is meant for 

 a snake, but has 

 been "improved" 

 by the addition of 

 fins like those of 

 the eel. 



FlG. 25. Ancient Roman 

 painting of a so-called 

 marine serpent really an 

 eel-like fish inaccurately 

 represented. The fins 

 show how, from such pic- 

 tures, the belief in winged 

 serpents might take its 

 origin. 



pictures of winged serpents have wings resembling those 

 of an insect (see Figs. 26 and 27), and sometimes they 

 are represented with one and sometimes with two pairs. 



Aristotle says that, as a matter of common report in 

 his time, there were winged serpents in Africa. Hero- 

 dotus, on the contrary, says there were none except in 

 Arabia, and he went across the Red Sea from the city of 

 Bats in order to see them. He did not, however, succeed 

 in doing so, though he says he saw their dead bodies and 

 bones. He says that they hang about the trees in vast 

 numbers, are of small size and varied colour, and that 



